Chapter 28 – Big Shot [Big Picture]

Siguk answered with an expression instead of words.

‘So what?’

Looking down at Park Suyeon with the expression of someone observing a strange object, Siguk shifted his steps to return his tray.

Park Suyeon stared blankly at Siguk for a moment before getting up from her seat and following him.

After dumping the leftover food in the scrap bin and returning the tray and utensils, Siguk tried to leave the cafeteria as he was.

“Hey!”

Park Suyeon called out to Siguk. But Siguk didn’t stop walking.

Park Suyeon, who had rushed over urgently, tried to grab Siguk’s arm.

But Siguk lightly evaded her touch, and Park Suyeon’s hand only sliced through empty air.

Of course, her attempt wasn’t entirely in vain.

Siguk stopped walking and looked at Park Suyeon.

Park Suyeon spoke to Siguk once more.

“I’m Park Cheolsu’s noona, you know?”

“Whether your brother is Park Cheolsu or Park Hyeonsu, why does that matter?”

For a moment, Park Suyeon’s pupils trembled.

“You, you don’t know Cheolsu?”

“There’s more than one or two Cheolsus in the world?”

“Why, there’s that kid who got beaten up by you at the dumpster a few days ago.”

Siguk chuckled.

“Don’t tell me you forgot?”

“I don’t bother remembering the names of people who aren’t that important.”

It was a statement that should have been offensive as a noona, but instead, Park Suyeon smiled.

“Want to talk for a bit?”

Siguk took out his smartphone and checked the time.

There were still about 20 minutes left until the 5th period.

‘If I go back to the classroom, those brats will just keep glancing at me, and it’ll be the same if I go to the school store. Well, she is family of the guy I beat up.’

Siguk nodded and said.

“If it’s somewhere quiet.”

At Siguk’s words, Park Suyeon nodded.

“There’s a suitable place.”

Park Suyeon took the lead, and Siguk followed behind her.

After walking for about three minutes, the two arrived at a vegetable garden located behind the school’s main building.

True to her word, the garden was quiet, without a single student in sight.

“The gardening club comes here during after-school activities, so this is the quietest place in the school.”

Saying that, Park Suyeon quietly gazed at the cherry blossoms.

“I planted these cherry blossoms when I was a freshman, and they’ve already grown this much. Pretty, right?”

Park Suyeon wasn’t particularly expecting an answer.

And Siguk also had no intention of answering that remark.

Siguk asked Park Suyeon.

“What’s the matter? I don’t have time.”

At Siguk’s cold and dry words, Park Suyeon’s expression turned slightly serious.

“Why? It wasn’t a question I particularly wanted an answer to.”

“Still, out of courtesy, you should say something.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Hurry up and tell me. What’s the matter?”

At Siguk’s consistent reaction, Park Suyeon finally let out a slight sigh. She looked at Siguk and spoke.

“Cheolsu got beaten up pretty badly.”

“He did something deserving of a bad beating.”

“…… Yeah. Well, honestly, he is a bit like that.”

Siguk was slightly surprised by Park Suyeon’s unexpectedly agreeable attitude.

Of course, it was just a flinch at the unexpected reaction, nothing of great significance.

Park Suyeon continued.

“But still, as his noona, I asked what happened, but the kid won’t answer. This morning, he didn’t even want to come to school and ended up having a big fight with our mom.”

“Did you come looking for me because you wanted to hear that story?”

At Siguk’s words, Park Suyeon lightly shook her head.

“I asked Hyejin. About what happened then. Ah, Hyejin is Cheolsu’s girlfriend. She’s the one you told off at the incinerator that day. Anyway. When I heard the story from her, she said Cheolsu got beaten up completely one-sidedly. Same with Cheolsu’s friends.”

“So, you want to get an apology from me or something?”

“…… Is your way of speaking always like that?”

“That doesn’t seem like a very important topic for this conversation? So, what do you want?”

Park Suyeon puffed out her cheeks and pouted, expressing her dissatisfaction in her own way.

But Siguk didn’t bat an eyelid.

He just crossed his arms and looked at Park Suyeon, seeming both annoyed and slightly interested.

“Ugh. Let’s not talk about it. You must just be this kind of character.”

As if for Siguk to hear, Park Suyeon muttered to herself.

Siguk responded by letting out a snort.

Park Suyeon relaxed her expression and continued.

“It’s true that your attitude is a bit off-putting, so that feeling weakened a little…… But I came to find you to say thank you.”

“Huh?”

For a moment, Siguk thought he had misheard.

Thank you?

Out of nowhere?

With his eyes wide open and his head slightly tilted forward, Siguk stared intently at Park Suyeon.

A slight smile formed at the corner of Park Suyeon’s mouth.

“You, you told my brother and his friends that, right? To live properly.”

“I did, didn’t I? But why?”

“Last night, to cheer Cheolsu up, we ordered chicken, and the kid said something like that. ‘Maybe it’s not too late for me yet?'”

From her words, Siguk could quickly grasp the context.

Siguk leaned his head back again, wearing a cynical expression and looking at Park Suyeon with arrogant eyes.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s time to be thankful yet, you know. People don’t change that easily.”

Park Suyeon instantly burst into laughter with a bright smile.

After laughing heartily for a while while holding onto the cherry tree, she wiped away a slight tear with her finger and opened her mouth.

“You’re really funny.”

Park Suyeon looked at Siguk.

“Why do you talk like an old man when you’re just a kid?”

For a moment, Siguk flinched.

‘Come to think of it…….’

After the unexplained Regression, except for a few cases, Siguk generally wasn’t treated like a child.

It was intentional, but as things unfolded as intended, he often naturally forgot his physical and legal age.

But at this very moment, with Park Suyeon’s words, Siguk finally realized that he was merely a boy who looked only fourteen years old.

‘That aside.’

Breaking free from his thoughts, Siguk looked at Park Suyeon, who was still giggling, and said one thing.

“Are you done talking? It’s almost time for the 5th period to start, you know.”

Watching Siguk check the time on his smartphone, Park Suyeon stopped her intermittent laughter and spoke.

“Cheolsu will probably start coming back to school from next Monday. If you happen to run into him then, please don’t hit him or anything.”

“If your brother doesn’t do something deserving of a beating first, I won’t have any reason to hit him. What am I, a thug?”

“You’re not a thug, but you’re like an old man.”

And then Park Suyeon laughed again.

What on earth is this woman’s sense of humor?

Thinking that, Siguk shook his head.

“Are you done talking? Then I’ll go in first.”

Siguk turned around.

Park Suyeon’s voice flew from behind him.

“Just going like that?”

Siguk slightly turned his head.

Park Suyeon approached, holding her smartphone.

She held out her phone to Siguk and spoke.

Siguk looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“Put your number in.”

The corner of Siguk’s mouth lifted slightly. He entered his number into Park Suyeon’s smartphone and handed it back.

Park Suyeon immediately called that number, and Siguk could see the number calling him.

“Lee Siguk. I’ll save it.”

“Do as you please.”

With those words, Siguk quickly left the gardening club’s vegetable garden.

Watching that, Park Suyeon immediately opened a messenger app.

Siguk appeared as a newly added friend.

She promptly checked his profile.

But all she saw was a screen filled with nothing but the default image.

Looking at it, she smiled slightly.

‘He’s an interesting kid.’

Putting her smartphone away, she also headed towards the classroom.

Sipping peppermint tea, Siguk looked at the two photos Lee Jeonghoon had handed him.

One was a photo of a middle-aged woman with a neat short haircut, wearing a suit with a subtle purple hue, and the other was a photo of a middle-aged man in a black suit who looked rigid.

Lee Jeonghoon looked at Siguk and spoke.

“The woman is Ilsin Group Vice Chairman Bae Eunjeong, and the man is Ilsin Medical Foundation Chairman Bae Geumcheol. Both are in a competitive relationship with Bae Geumseong.”

Siguk tossed the photos onto the desk and looked at Lee Jeonghoon.

Lee Jeonghoon continued.

“In the current power struggle, Bae Geumseong has the most advantage. He’s in charge of construction and heavy industry, which are the group’s core.”

“Plus, he has people under him who handle all sorts of dirty work.”

“That’s right. But he doesn’t have a completely dominant position. After all, Chairman Bae Deukjae, though comatose, is still alive and holds all the key shares, and the founding directors who were with Chairman Bae maintain neutrality.”

“So we choose one of these two?”

Lee Jeonghoon nodded.

Siguk looked at him with an interested expression.

Lee Jeonghoon’s words continued.

“Other than these two, I couldn’t find anyone with a particular reason to take us on as sponsors. To find someone hostile to Myeongdong’s Chairman Shin, the man himself is already too old, and being of the same generation as the first-generation chaebols, he doesn’t have major conflicts with the current second or third-generation chaebols. So ultimately, we need to find a figure of similar stature opposing Bae Geumseong, and no one matched these two.”

Siguk nodded.

“Shin Ikgyeom is an old man on his last legs anyway. It’s better to target Bae Geumseong’s side.”

“That’s right.”

“So, which side do you think is more suitable, Chairman Lee?”

Lee Jeonghoon didn’t answer immediately.

Lee Jeonghoon, who had let out a light breath, slowly opened his mouth.

“First, the easier side for me to approach is Bae Geumcheol. We’re both Korea University economics graduates, and my university advisor is Bae Geumcheol’s college classmate. But…….”

Lee Jeonghoon trailed off.

Siguk, smiling quietly, said one thing.

“The one you like is Bae Eunjeong, right?”

Lee Jeonghoon nodded silently.

Seeing that, Siguk chuckled lightly.

‘Whether as Kim Yanggi’s underling or taking Kim Yanggi’s place and acting proactively, the basis for judgment hasn’t changed after all.’

A fragment of a past life memory flashed through Siguk’s mind.

『When Chairman Lee first proposed siding with Bae Eunjeong, I was utterly shocked. Objectively, Bae Geumcheol seemed much better.』

To Kim Yanggi, who had just unified the Southwestern District and was looking for a sponsor, Lee Jeonghoon recommended Bae Eunjeong.

The reason was truly simple.

In Lee Jeonghoon’s view, Bae Eunjeong showed more outstanding qualities as a manager than Bae Geumseong or Bae Geumcheol.

That’s why Lee Jeonghoon had proposed to Kim Yanggi to take Bae Eunjeong as a sponsor and seat her as Ilsin Group’s chairman.

Of course, in the end, she didn’t become chairman, and Kim Yanggi didn’t take her as a sponsor either.

『I agonized for a long time between Bae Eunjeong and Bae Geumcheol, but then Bae Geumseong contacted me. He asked if I wanted to work with him, proposing that if I joined hands with him, he’d give me the Gangnam Luxury Faction intact.』

Kim Yanggi joined hands with Bae Geumseong and easily took control of the Gangnam Luxury Faction.

Later, when Bae Geumseong ascended to Ilsin Group’s chairmanship without much difficulty, Kim Yanggi, under his full support, also took control of the Gangbuk New Generation Faction, which had been floundering after Shin Ikgyeom’s death. He then created YK Group, reigned as chairman, and enjoyed a life as part of the privileged class.

‘The big picture won’t change this time either…….’

Siguk looked at Lee Jeonghoon.

Lee Jeonghoon opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“As a manager, no one matches Vice Chairman Bae Eunjeong. Bae Geumcheol, and even Bae Geumseong, are far below Vice Chairman Bae Eunjeong.”

“So you want to take Bae Eunjeong as a sponsor, Chairman Lee?”

“Long-term, as you said, we must evolve into a corporation. But if we join hands with people like Bae Geumseong or Bae Geumcheol, whose mindsets are outdated…… whether we like it or not, our image as a gangster organization won’t disappear. No matter how much our exterior changes to a corporation.”

“Then do as you want, Chairman Lee.”

“…… Will it be okay?”

“What?”

“In a way, we’re abandoning the easy path and taking the difficult one.”

Siguk grinned.

“Was unifying the Southwestern District an easy path?”

At those words, Lee Jeonghoon closed his mouth.

Siguk continued.

“If we’re going to get a sponsor anyway, it’s better to join hands with someone we like.”

“…… That’s right.”

“But for them to like us too, we’ll need attractive bait, right?”

“Bait?”

“Bae Geumseong has a son, right? Bae Jaeseok, was it?”

“Ilsin Construction Managing Director Bae Seokjae?”

“Ah, right. Bae Seokjae. Follow that guy quietly for a bit. About a week. His patterns will roughly emerge; just figure out his movement patterns and pass the data to me.”

“And after that?”

Siguk smiled, baring his teeth.

For a moment, Lee Jeonghoon’s gaze wavered at that smile, which was almost chilling.

“We have to make tasty bait.”

At Siguk’s words, Lee Jeonghoon could only look at him silently.